Freedom Rock Chronicles (Book 1): Death Has Fallen Page 12

  “Tim? Are you sure he is ready for a mission I mean he just lost his brother.” I was worried.

  “Tim came to me after his brother was killed and told me to send him on any mission which may deal with this gang and if I didn’t he would seek retribution solo. He will not only be going with you on this mission, but also go when we scout Wellston.”

  It was apparent from Earl’s expression that he really didn’t agree with letting Tim go, but would in order to keep him with the town.

  “You ready Aaron?”

  A smile came across his face. “You know it.”

  We walked with Earl to the security office and began choosing weapons which suited our abilities. I laughed as Jaime picked up an assault rifle and asked, “Think you can handle that thing?”

  She looked a bit irritated at the remark. Aaron walked over to her asking if she needed a quick training on how to load and operate the weapon. I grabbed my .357 making sure it was fully loaded. I then grabbed a L96 Sniper with a 10 round clip which we found at the bunker. Standing around picking through the guns we all began noticing today was quite a bit warmer. In the security office we all were sweating as we took guns and ammo out to the truck.

  After Aaron had finished training Jaime he choose a small mp 7 and his 270 hunting rifle. He looked up noticing me staring at him and when I did I shrugged at the 50 cal lying against a corner. He just smiled shaking his head, “That gun is not for quick sniping, but rather assaulting. You better believe if we assault the town I will be hidden with that gun ready to take out anything that moves.”

  I shook my head in agreement. Even Aaron was beginning to feel the excitement of what we were going to do. A killer’s look appeared in his eyes as the thought of the war approached. He had seen death before and it had given him something. Power over guilt and remorse. The ability to take life without fear of repercussion or guilt. I supposed this was exactly how I looked when pulling the trigger on the two who imprisoned Jaime. Rather than fear the cruelness of his disposition, I emerged myself in it letting the rage take over. The feeling of power was overwhelming. Jaime looked at us both with a smile.

  She put into words what was in our heads. “You know guys I would have been appalled at this a few months ago. I have seen the true evil in men and if we kill those that have that evil brimming then good for us. We just need to make sure not to become what we hate though.”

  Aaron turned to her smiling, “Very well put Jaime. Kill those who deserve it.”

  I shook my head in agreement as we grabbed the last of the guns we needed and took them up to the trucks. Aaron told me I would be sniping out of the white Chevy with Max as my close quarter’s gunner. He was holding a sub machine gun I had not seen before. It was very small lacking the usual shape of a gun. As he saw me eyeing his weapon he turned to me smiling, “P90”. He also had a 9 millimeter for emergency use.

  The Dozer contained two civilians in the cab who would be driving. With us in the white Chevy was two in the cab and one in back with us. They all had small arms, but looked terrified of the guns. The man sitting in back with us was almost shaking. He had sandy blond hair and a face of a child.

  “How old are you?” I said looking down on him.

  After a few moments he looked up at me, “15”.

  I stood shocked at this. They were sending children with us. Max sitting next to us simply hung his head low as though he was used to having young kids on the missions. It made sense though. The only job these extras had was getting in and getting the food. The security was in charge of making sure everyone got out alive. I noticed Jaime and Aaron in The Dozer alone. I yelled out asking where Nick was they just pointed across the road. He was strapping a 12 gage shotgun to his back and then jumped on an old dirt bike.

  Max handed me the large knife, but looking at him I felt as though it would not be enough. I had forgotten something on our last mission. I jumped out running back down the road screaming back to the group not to leave me. It took a couple minutes even running to reach my house. Walking in I could see my lucky board leaned up against the corner. It may be beat up, but it still could drop any undead or live man. Running back they had already backed up and pulled to the gate. As I approached with the board in hand they all laughed at the primitive weapon telling me it would make better building material than a zombie killer.

  The only ones ridiculing me were the ones I respected, the guards. I gave a good chuckle and jumped in the back of the truck. Yelling at everyone laughing, “Just wait this board will save all your asses!”

  Watching the gate beginning to rise above the wall a feeling of fear and excitement flowed through me once again. Slowly we pulled out onto the terribly broken road. Even without loads it was difficult to stay in the trucks. Looking towards my side I noticed the dirt bike seemed the only vehicle able to transverse such rough terrain with ease.

  Chapter 18

  As we pulled onto the road both Max and Jaime each had a pair of binoculars and were scouting the area. Aaron and I each had our rifles pointed ready for anything. As we drove the sky was beautiful and the warmth had been something which I missed. The smell of fall and the beauty of all the leaves changing was hard to ignore. I tried over and over to stay focused on any possible enemies, but was unable to avoid staring off at the beauty before me.

  Slightly dazed and not really paying attention the shot fired from Aaron’s 270 nearly caused me to jump out of the moving truck. Quickly coming to my senses I saw he was popping a few dead who had been coming out to see what the trucks were up to. Seeing them I instantly took aim at a young lady missing half her face. Looking at her through the scope I was surprised she was still up and moving. Some of the skin draped from her jaw line dangling on her shoulder. I centered the scope and as we came to a halt I pulled the trigger.

  I found the recoil and accuracy much better than the 300 hunting rifle I had used previously. The monster fell on her back. We were all surprised when the undead decided to run taking shelter into the trees. Unable to kill the rest and focused more on the food we decided to head for the gas station.

  Putting down my gun I turned to Max asking, “You see them run and hide like that before?”

  “Yea I have seen them retreat, but never this quickly. It seems they are beginning to understand unfavorable engagements much quicker than before.”

  I nodded then looking towards the Dozer I saw Aaron, Nick, and Jaime all had the same confounded faces as we did. I watched them shrug to each other somewhat irritated the threat could not be neutralized in that instant. Not able to see extremely far the dead seemed much more prevalent than our first trip. They looked as though they were beginning to starve and have been heading south from Denver. This was a very terrifying proposition since the attacks we had already experienced were small compared to what would come.

  As the convoy began getting closer to the gas station we stopped to develop a plan. We again pulled up next to The Dozer allowing room for the dirt bike in the middle. It seemed Nick had the same confusion with the dead. When he pulled up next to us he said, “You guys see how quick the dead ran away?”

  Aaron spoke first saying, “Yea it looks like they are getting smarter the longer they live. I fear soon they may reach the point to begin using team work when hunting.”

  “God forbid,” Jaime muttered softly.

  “How are we going to do this?” I asked Aaron trying to move the conversation to a more productive topic.

  “Nick you think you can take a more scenic route towards the station?”

  “Hell yea, this bike can go anywhere.” He said this with confidence smiling at the thought of getting to do some serious off-roading.

  “Good, Good, I am going to want you to scout from a distance. Jaime hand him the binoculars. We are going to pull up a half mile from the gas station and stop. I want you to get close enough to see if there are any scouts or dead anywhere near the station. Once your done come get behind the trucks and we will drive in.”


  “Yes sir.” It was easy to tell that Nick was excited.

  We started off towards the Gas station now fearing attacks from both the bikers and the increased dead in the area. After these thoughts sunk in I found it much easier to pay attention to the task at hand. No longer looking at the beautiful colors around me I forced myself to notice any and all movement. The dead seemed to be everywhere sitting right inside the tree line. They seemed to understand when they step out they get shot.

  The highway broke off in the direction of the gas station. As soon as it was in view the trucks stopped and the bike broke off into the mountains. Aaron and I stayed in the back of the trucks. Within a minute Nick was out of our sights. From our position the station looked clear, but we could only see the road out in front. The dead could not be seen, but we heard them slowly walking in the forest, twenty or thirty yards out. At each stick broken we all moved our guns in the direction. I began having a bad feeling about this mission. There was nearly no activity last time and now we had bikers as well as undead to worry about.

  While we waited the dead would only give us glances. They seemed interested, but extremely cautious. Finally we heard the dirt bike coming through the trees. Right before entering the clearing where the trucks lay the shotgun fired and we heard the bike crash. Instantly all the guards ran to help Nick. We heard that 12 gage blast over and over. As we reached him the dead were grouped up and attempting to close the distance. With each shot of the shotgun one of the dead fell. Jaime and Max ran in closer to help while Aaron and I lowered our snipers taking aim and firing when we had a shot.

  The dead were sprinting towards Nick through the trees forcing us to spend extra time waiting for a shot. One jumped on him, but took a shot to gut which blasted him off. The others were beginning to lunge and I saw Max coming up behind firing the P90. They all began dropping with the amount of bullets being pushed out. Nick hearing the sound and seeing what he was using quickly dropped to the ground to avoid any friendly fire. Jaime was right behind Max with the M16 lowered and firing in three round bursts. Any dead who were still alive after the spray with the P90 now took three bullets from the M16.

  Feeling completely useless in this fight Aaron and I strapped the rifles to our back and pulled out our small arms. We reached the group within a minute and found Nick unable to stand. He had taken two bullets in the leg from the spraying P90. Max and Jaime had already began pressing on the wounds attempting to stop any blood loss. At that second shots were heard from the trucks. We had left all those who we should have been protecting alone. Fearing the worst I left Jaime and Max to help Nick, Aaron and I ran back to help the others.

  Stepping out of the tree line we found our team not being attacked by the dead. Our shots had brought out the bikers from the station. Looking through the scopes I saw at least three hiding behind trees and stepping out to pop off a few rounds at the trucks. I pulled the scope over to the truck and saw they had shot the kid in our truck and one of the drivers. The others were behind the trucks towards us shooting at the attackers. I heard Aaron let of the first shot and through the scope saw one man fall limp behind a tree. The others were still attempting to fight. My eyes were drawn to a fat one with a large revolver. He seemed to be timing his bounces though I doubt purposefully. He popped out and I counted. Three seconds later he popped out firing once again almost blindly towards us. The third time he popped out I had imagined where his head would be and to my surprise the dumbass stuck his head right in the crosshair. I could see his grimy teeth and unshaved beard. I pulled the trigger and saw his head fly back.

  There was only one man off, but we were unable to get a shot. He must have noticed the high power rifle fire and decided to take a more defensive position. As I looked around trying to find any more bikers throughout the forest I saw movement the trees. Whatever it was the heading was directly towards the biker still shooting. Finally it came close enough for me to see Jaime had snuck across the road further up and was now flanking the remaining biker. She was approaching him with the rifle drawn and three shots echoed throughout the forest.

  Continuing to gaze through the scope I saw Jaime slowly walking out with that same smile on her face. We waved smiling at her success and went to help Max with Nick. Max was struggling with stopping the blood flow. I took my belt off and tightened it around his thigh. The three of us lifted him and placed him in the back of The Dozer. The kid who was in the Chevy with me took two shots. The first shot was in the arm and the second in the back. The driver of The Dozer took a shot to the side of his face. It was a gruesome mess and we did our best to clean everything up. The two dead were placed in my truck to be taken back and buried.

  Three had lived through the assault, but were now more shook up than they were before leaving the town. We began heading towards the station at Aaron’s command. The fear of the drivers was apparent at the fast pace they choose.

  Chapter 19

  It took a while to reach the gas station, but once we did all was quiet. It seemed that the gang in Wellston really did not have the men necessary to guard the station heavily. Aaron, Max, and I walked through the station then down into the bunker. The supplies in the station seemed a bit drained, but the cover had not been lifted from the bunker. They must have thought we got everything not realizing there was food underground. I stayed and helped load supplies while the rest of the guards went to watch over the trucks and make sure Nick was doing ok. It took us a couple hours to get everything out of the bunker and into the trucks. The barrels of water were the most difficult weighing near four hundred pounds.

  The five gallon buckets of dried food and jerky went easily. We had nothing to strap the buckets down so the drivers took their time getting back to the quarry. Getting back without incident gave us a bit of peace allowing us a chance to calm ourselves. Everyone was shaken up especially Max and myself who had to sit with the fifteen year old kid and the woman who drove The Dozer. We let our guard down for only a couple minutes and this biker group unloaded killing a woman and child. I felt that this situation would help the cause and get people willing to help us take the town down once and for all.

  When we pulled up to the kitchen to unload the food both Timothy and Earl were there with Ted. There were now three citizen deaths caused by this biker gang. Timothy had a few people with them and as we got out the leaders pulled us in the town hall. The people there to unload first took Nick to lay down then got the only nurse we had at the quarry to tend to him.

  They walked in and Earl spoke first saying, “You guys seem a little short what the hell happened?”

  Being the senior member Aaron began speaking. “Earl we sent Nick to go scout. On his way back he was attacked by a horde so we went to help him. He took two bullets from friendly fire in the leg. We were able to kill the zombies, but the biker gang came when they heard the shots and began unloading on the citizens we left. I know we screwed up leaving the group to fend for themselves while we went to fight the dead, but taking them with us into the trees towards the fighting would have been just as dangerous.”

  Ted who I hadn’t seen for some time lit up like fire. His eyes were pointed at us all as this was unfolding. “What the fuck has been happening since I have been looking for supplies and other civilizations? We now have an enemy besides these dead who kill us? How did this get started? Tell me you at least tried peace before going to war.”

  He was looking at Earl as he said this, blatantly placing the blame on him. It was then Earl began showing some anger and said, “Ted we were on a simple scavenge mission. Five of them on bikes came and without warning began shooting at the trucks. There was no option for peace. The only peace that could be found that day was in death.”

  Earl then broke from describing that day and took the approach of calling them monsters and telling him they had to be stopped. He explained Joseph’s story as if he had always wanted to avenge him. As the words came out of his mouth my pride began boiling, but it was suppressed. I knew that if Earl c
ould convince Ted the war would be worthwhile and we would have a chance at freeing everyone they had taken he would give the go. The thought brought up fire inside me.

  Both Earl and Ted were now arguing about fighting with the town. Earl continued to bring up all my points of why we should go, now seeing the devastation they enjoyed causing.

  “Ted, they want us dead and the ones who won’t be murdered will be enslaved. Any inaction on our part dealing with the situation will lead to more of these deaths. We now have an enemy more dangerous than those hordes. They will not stop with simply attacking our scavengers. When they see there is no real consequences for killing us they will come to take what we have. Everything we know about them tells us they don’t want to talk, but only kill and enslave. Will you really allow more deaths for fear of violence? They have started this war and if we don’t fight we die!” I saw my emotion when giving a speech damn similar to mine. When he slammed his fist to the table it really drove the point.

  Ted began contemplating his response knowing the seriousness of his decision.

  “There is no safe way to wage war. Look out in those trucks and see the dead bodies. That will be nothing compared to the losses we face if an all-out war erupts.” Earl began responding, but was cut short. “Earl let me finish please, we have seven hundred lives to think of with our decisions. These bikers have put our people in the ground without showing restraint or mercy. For our safety we will remove this threat by any means necessary.”

  Our group roared with this. The gears of war had finally been set into motion. Ted and Earl sent the rest of us away to get every guard who was not on patrol or watching the gate. This had been the first time I was required to walk around the entire city. My house was at the end of the main road which also housed the kitchen, security office, and town hall. There was much more to this quarry than I had originally thought. The main road had two smaller roads that branched off. They were closer to the front signifying they had been their longer than us.